Redemption
by Her Madjesty
Summary: The ghosts of our past are something the most difficult to face. Sometimes, to overcome them, we must scream, beg, cry, fight, and assert our independence in every way that is possible. And sometimes, the best way to overcome our ghosts is to forgive them.


_A/N I saw this movie quite recently, and cannot wait to go and see it again. I hope you all enjoy the following. Please, review, tell me what you think! I'm always looking to improve._

_Disclaimer: Characters are not mine._

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Moss had decorated the stones of her parents over the past three years of her life. They stood like proud giants, watching over the fjord as the sun lay swaddled in the golden western sky.

She knew she should be grateful, or that she should say something sweet, or somewhat kind. Instead, she found herself staring bitterly at the two monuments before her.

"We haven't spoken in years because of you."

The stones did not respond, though the wind shifted slightly, bearing down the mountains' cold.

"Anna's the light of the city, Papa." The larger of the two stones glistened in the dying light. "She's bright, and beautiful, and can speak to the rest of them in a way that I just can't." Her dress spread over the grass, gathering the soft dews.

"I haven't spoken a full sentence to her in years, but now, I'm amazed." She laughed, so sweetly. "I love who she's grown to be, and how she carries herself so proudly."

"It would have been fun to grow up beside her. Do you think she'd be any different if I had been there?" The mountains groaned in the distance, and the smile sank slowly off of Elsa's pure face.

"If she would have been, maybe it's better you kept me in that bedroom."

"But I'm so proud of her, Papa." She carried on. "You should really see her shine." A laugh lifted the darkening spirit and brought a glow back to the hillside.

"If life was fair, life would've gifted her with the powers of summer and me with the powers of winter. We'd balance each other out and rule together, no fear in our hearts, because we could protect each other." The young woman sighed and lay back on the ground, sighing wistfully into the wind. "Wouldn't that be a wonderful sight?"

There was a pause on the hillside where she rested, and the wind played delicately through the trees.

"I wouldn't have had to hide anything from her." She said softly.

"I know you loved me, Papa. I really do." The sun had dipped below the horizon, and pinks and reds flashed and faded to deeper blues. "But think, Papa. There were so many times when I felt you shoving me away, burying me like a dirty little secret. You and mother had Anna to replace this child who seemed so strange. Why would the two of you want to deal with such a mess as me? What point was there in fretting over the mistake when the replacement had to be raised?"

"Yes, I know, the gloves, the capes; you only wanted to protect me." Said gloves resided on her hands even now, and she looked down at them with scorn. "But even though you're just a corpse, Papa, Mama, you're still lording over my head, possessing that horrible power. You're still telling me to hide who and what I really am!" The night was dripping dark, and her shouts echoed down the cascading hills. "These powers shouldn't be feared," Elsa proclaimed, taking the glove s from her hands. Snowflakes danced from her fingertips, and she smiled, giggled.

"This should be controlled, you said." She whispered. "And what did you preach to me that kept it hidden away? Fear. Nothing but fear."

"What an excellent solution, your Majesties." She stood and bowed low to the towering rocks, reflected dimly in the darkness. "Controlling your daughter's unnatural gift with fear for her life, and fear for the life of her sister was most definitely the best solution great, diplomatic minds such as yours could have mustered."

"You were nothing but fools!" She shrieked into the frozen air. "Both of you, fools running scared from something you could not control. Now look at me. You're long dead, and you can't stop me anymore!"

She was panting and pacing, cursing her parents' names into the night. The fury that lay buried in her heart had simmered for an age, and the wind whipped with her anger. The grass became frosted; the moss died away, and an unforgiving wind stole away years from the faces of the stone monuments before the distraught young woman.

It took time to ease her pain, and she plunked back into the grass, unaffected by the chill. The stars that one hid in the darkness peered out at her from their hiding places, and she stared up into their depths, and sighed.

"I know you loved me." She said. "I know that's why you hid me away. I see your love in almost every act you performed."

"But I also see your disgust." She said, her hands curling into fists. "Most often, Mama, Papa, I see your fear."

"There is a part of me that can't help but hate every achingly, disgusting moment I spent buried in that dark little room that you placed me in."

"I could have been the sister that Ana needed."

"I could have been free."

She stood up once again, looking every inch a queen as she stared at the tombs of her parents.

"There's a room in my castle dedicated to you, Papa. You, too, Mama."

"The walls are deep, forever purple, and the plumage is all white. I didn't think you'd like it, at first, but then I realized that it didn't matter. It was my way to remember you, and it is the best I can give you, under these circumstances."

She chuckled, so sadly. "I think you'd be terrified, if you could see what I could do."

"I still am."

"The difference between you and me, Papa, is that I'm moving on. I won't always be afraid of what I can do, no. One day, I will look down from both castles, mine and yours, and I will be proud of every act, every gorgeous thing I create." Her eyes flashed in beautiful defiance, and she held her head high, smiling boldly into the night.

"Anna will be proud of me, too, when I'm done with all my work." Her smile softened. "She does not fear me, and I love her all the more for that. But from this day on, I am living for myself, and your shadow will haunt me no longer."

Elsa began her descent down the hillside, back into the welcoming arms of Arendelle, which lay aglow with candlelight in the evening.

"Goodbye, Papa. Goodbye, Mama. I will always love you."


End file.
